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On Saturday 10th February you and your friends and family are welcome to hear Livison Chipatiso, Programme Officer from the CAFOD office in Harare, will be in Croxteth from 2pm-4pm. He will be speaking about CAFOD’s projects tackling hunger and malnutrition in Zimbabwe.

Happy New Year from everyone at CAFOD Liverpool, we hope you had a successful 2017, and wish you the best for 2018. Here are some of our highlights from our work in 2017 (In no particular order)!

#Ficamaua – This Autumn 237 families were faced with the uncertainty of losing their home, but thanks to the support of CAFOD supporters from across the Archdiocese of Liverpool and further afield, we were thrilled to find out that there would be no eviction!

You can watch a video of our supporters holding their #Ficamaua signs by clicking here

CAFOD Liverpool’s campaigns co-ordinator, Emily McIndoe, said: “We’re so pleased with the result of this campaign. The support from parishioners in the Archdiocese of Liverpool has been astounding. What great news!”

We also have a number of parishes working towards their awards, in various parts of the Archdiocese, including Ormskirk, Liverpool and Widnes, Colette Byrne said “We’re asking people to evaluate how they live their lives, and emphasising how it can impact our planet and the people living on it. Pope Francis asks us in Laudato Si, to care for our common home.” With an assessment scheduled in January, stay tuned to find out more (don’t forget you can subscribe to our blog at the bottom of the page).

CAFOD Liverpool’s Office Volunteer, Stephen Cooke said “It’s been fantastic to see the growth of Live Simply in the Archdiocese, with the first Live Simply school in the country being from the Archdiocese, a parish having scheduled an assessment in January, and several more close to booking an assessment, we wish them all good luck, and look forward to seeing what 2018 brings for Live Simply in the Archdiocese”

Ged’s trip to The Philippines – During the summer Ged, and two of his CAFOD Colleagues (Maggie Mairura, who is Ged’s counterpart in the Nottingham Diocese, and David Brinn, CAFOD’s National Schools Volunteer Programme Coordinator) visited The Philippines to see for themselves how money donated to CAFOD was used in the aftermath of Typhoons Haiyan and Melor.

Ged said, “It was a great honour to share what we know and to work alongside our partners to deliver it. We also took the marvelous opportunity to see first hand the projects that CAFOD supporters have helped to fund and the progress local communities we visited have made since The Philippines was devastated by these massive Typhoons.”

Tricycle ride!

Ged would be happy to talk to your parish, group or school saying “I’d love the chance to visit more people to share my experience, and give the people the chance to find out how their support for CAFOD helps people in areas such as The Philippines. I was so impressed with how people work together there and how they battle with the natural disasters and the impacts of climate change as well as dealing with injustice on a large scale.”

If you would like to arrange a visit from Ged please contact gedwards@cafod.org.uk or phone 0151 228 4028.

Power to Be – Power to be was CAFOD’s renewable energy campaign which focused on the fact that every child has the power in them to achieve great things. But with one in six people still living without electricity, the hopes of millions of the world’s children are too often a distant dream.

Over 29,000 people across the country signed the Petition calling on Melanie Robinson, the UK’s representative at the World Bank, to shift the balance to support renewable energy which tackles poverty, so everyone can have the chance to fulfil their God-given potential.

Ged Edwards said “This is a campaign with a real focus – we really can make a difference in practical ways and it is so simple!”

We heard from volunteers from across the diocese, some of whom were schools’ volunteers and parish volunteers from their local CAFOD groups. There was such a huge mix of activities that people take part in for CAFOD: from beetle drives to giving talks in schools, from selling fair trade goods to holding collections after Mass… It is inspiring to see such variety and we are grateful for it all!

Colette said “We had a wonderful afternoon together and it was great to be able to celebrate our volunteers in the Liverpool diocese and share and inspire us all with the brilliant stories!”

The 34th Annual Fun Run – As always our year drew to a close with our annual Fun Run, the 34th time it has taken place.

The run took place on December 27th, in cold temperatures, in Wavertree. Participants had the choice of running or walking 2km, 4km or 8km.

An incredible 257 people came together from all ages, and across the country (and the world) to help raise money for CAFOD’s work and to enjoy a fun day. Thank you to everyone who took part, and to our wonderful organising committee. More details will follow in the new year.

Stephen said “It was fantastic to see so many people come together and brave the cold to help support CAFOD, a massive thank you to them all, and to all those who volunteered on the day, and to those who helped organise such a great day”

2017 was a year full of highlights, other highlights this year have included our annual memorial mass in November, our lent and creation time resources produced with the Liverpool Justice and Peace Commission, the use of The Lampedusa Cross and all the opportunities we have had to visit parishes and schools to talk abut our work.

We’re looking forward to another year of highlights in 2018, and hope that you, your family and friends have a wonderful year.

Local pupils have raised over £300 to help overseas communities living in poverty to grow enough food this Harvest.

Christ the King Catholic Primary school in Wavertree recently held a series of events across the school, including a colourful fun run, to ‘brighten up’ the lives of young people around the world as part of development charity CAFOD’s Brighten Up Harvest fundraising campaign.

Pupils wearing bright socks

The whole school came together to replace items of their uniform with something bright and silly, and headed down to the field for a ‘welly walk’, whilst reception classes sang songs. The day culminated with the much-anticipated colour fun run, an event where staff and pupils alike brightened up by throwing powder paint.

Lorna Douglas, a reception teacher and part of the RE team at Christ the King, said: “It was lovely to see the whole school getting involved, including the staff – especially in the colour run! The day was brilliant, and even the rain couldn’t put us off.

“We really enjoyed raising money for CAFOD, and we’ll also be having a collection for the South Liverpool Foodbank in the coming weeks to end our Harvest celebrations.”

Staff after taking part in the “Colour Run”

CAFOD is working with communities like those in El Salvador – a small country in Central America with a population smaller than London. Farming is the dominant profession but the land is often difficult to grow food on, and farmers may use substandard seeds that only last one harvest and cannot cope with pests, or that need special fertiliser to grow

CAFOD’s representative in Liverpool, Ged Edwards, said: “Harvest is a time of abundance of both crops and of life in the community. This event has shown the abundance of compassion in Christ the King primary school, whose kindness will help communities in El Salvador and around the world.

“Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated after he spoke out for poor people of El Salvador, said: ‘We plant the seeds that one day will grow’. Our Harvest appeal is about literally planting seeds but also about standing with people to ensure that they can prosper. This wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of pupils like those at Christ the King school.”

Pupils taking part in a wellie walk

Thank you to everyone across the Archdiocese of Liverpool who helped to make this year’s Harvest so bright.

Join us at our Harvest Fast Day Briefing to find out how CAFOD has been working with Edelmira from El Salvador

This year’s Harvest Fast Day is quickly approaching, with less than six weeks to go! CAFOD Liverpool will be holding two sessions on Wednesday 20 September around the Archdiocese so you can find out more about our exciting work in El Salvador.

We will be telling you the stories of those we support in El Salvador and you will have the chance to talk with staff who have visited the country. We will provide you with the resources you need to be able to know about our goal of focusing on improving agriculture and healthcare, reducing risks of disasters and the progress and difficulties involved in creating peace.

Please let us know if you’re planning to attend or would like more information by emailing liverpool@cafod.org.uk or calling the CAFOD Liverpool Volunteer Centre on 0151 228 4028. If you can’t make it to the briefings, please note that you can join a briefing online at Romero House or watch the recording afterwards by registering here.

This year’s Harvest Fast day will be also marking 100 years since the Blessed Oscar Romero’s birth and by getting involved, you can help us to make a difference to, in the words of Romero, “Plant the seeds that one day will grow.”

Blessed Oscar Romero

Whether you’d like to speak at Mass, hold a Fast Day event or hold a simple soup lunch for CAFOD, we are happy to support you.

There are many online resources available to you too, including briefing notes, which you can find here.

We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully seeing you on 20 September!

CAFOD supporters all over Liverpool have been fundraising for our Lent appeal; from soup lunches to non-uniform days, parishes and school have been coming together to help communities around the world.

This was definitely the case at Great Crosby Catholic Primary School in Crosby, where on Friday 24 March, the pupils transformed their playground into a Marketplace and raised an incredible £1,500.